Foresight Nanotech Institute Weekly News Digest: January 2, 2008

Top Nano News of the Week

Foresight note: This revolutionary ultrafast electron microscope enables researchers to simultaneously observe the structure and movements of molecular systems. Uses could range from unraveling how complicated systems of biomolecules function inside cells to characterizing molecular complexes for use in productive nanosytems.

Headline:In the niche of time
Unique ultrafast electron imaging tools use time to help elucidate function
News source: Chemical & Engineering News, written by Rachel Petkewich

Imagine being able to see every bit of a chemical reaction as it happens. To observe reactants form fleeting intermediates that seamlessly transform into products. Or to watch a movie of a protein as it folds in a nanosecond. Not a representation, not a model or simulation, but actual pictures showing what molecules, cells, and proteins look like and how they move.

With the ultrafast electron microscope, Caltech researchers gathered frames to create this movie of a channel that opens and closes in crystals of CuTCNQ as electron pulses are turned on and off... [includes movie]

…The results may be valuable for developing molecular nanoswitches, the researchers suggest.

Toward Productive Nanosystems

Foresight note: The design strategy simulated in this work shows how atomically precise structures can be made to assemble and disassemble under controlled conditions to create containers larger than fullerenes but smaller than viral capsids. These workers demonstrate that "self-assembling capsids formed from coded subunits can serve as addressable nanocontainers or custom-made structural elements."

Many viruses' capsids use icosahedral symmetry to form particles ranging from 20 to 200 nanometers in size. Researchers have now begun to copy Nature's icosahedral-symmetry design principles for molecular containers, which could solve the problem of designing and synthesizing stable molecular containers having very large interior.

"The idea of forming nonprotein molecular containers by total synthesis and assembly of small molecules has a rich history and is an active area of research" Dr. Ehud Keinan explains to Nanowerk. "The field of molecular recognition is rapidly moving not only toward biomedical applications but also toward nanotechnology.

…Together with his team he developed a design that is based on self-assembly of synthetic pentagonal tiles to produce containers that have exterior diameters of [2.5–5.0 nm]…

Nanotechnology that's Good For People

US scientists have reported a mild new method for trapping liquids and nanoparticles inside carbon nanotubes.

Alexander Yarin's team at the University of Illinois at Chicago, US, have developed a room-temperature method to fill carbon nanotubes with liquids.

The filling of carbon nanotubes with aqueous solutions can have biomedical uses, as Yarin explained, 'Nanotubes with diameters of the order of 100 nm are possible drug carriers, which can deliver biological payloads to a certain location, such as a tumour.'

Nanomedicine pioneer Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., and colleagues at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have developed a new way to get intravenous agents for cancer and other diseases to the parts of the body where they're needed most and to reduce the amount that goes to other areas where unintended injury can occur.

UT-Houston's Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., has begun preclinical trials on a new nanoscale drug delivery system that could increase efficacy and reduce toxicity.

Their innovative nanoscale drug delivery system uses a multi-stage approach to guide nanocarriers that are about 100 times smaller than a strand of hair through the blood system and to the site of diseased cells where they release a payload of diagnostic agents or medications, or both.

Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices…

"It's not a small improvement," [Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering] said. "It's a revolutionary development." …

The greatly expanded storage capacity could make Li-ion batteries attractive to electric car manufacturers. Cui suggested that they could also be used in homes or offices to store electricity generated by rooftop solar panels.

Transparent electrodes created from atom-thick carbon sheets could make solar cells and LCDs without depleting precious mineral resources, say researchers in Germany.

Solar cells, LCDs, and some other devices, must have transparent electrodes in parts of their designs to let light in or out. These electrodes are usually made from indium tin oxide (ITO) but experts calculate that there is only 10 years' worth of indium left on the planet, with LCD panels consuming the majority of existing stocks.

Bypassing decades-old conventions in making computer chips, Princeton engineers developed a novel way to replace silicon with carbon on large surfaces, clearing the way for new generations of faster, more powerful cell phones, computers and other electronics.

The electronics industry has pushed the capabilities of silicon — the material at the heart of all computer chips — to its limit, and one intriguing replacement has been carbon, said Stephen Chou, professor of electrical engineering. A material called graphene — a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice — could allow electronics to process information and produce radio transmissions 10 times better than silicon-based devices.

Do you believe that nanotechnology will give society the ability to tackle the hard challenges facing humanity? What's your priority for nanotechnology: cancer treatments and longevity therapies, sustainable energy, clean water, a restored environment, space development, or "zero waste" manufacturing? Or perhaps there are potential nanotech scenarios you would like to prevent.

If you would like to help influence the direction of this powerful technology, please consider becoming a member of Foresight Nanotech Institute. With your support, Foresight will continue to educate the general public on beneficial nanotechnology and what it will mean to our society.

Members receive the Foresight Nanotech Update newsletter. For a sample from the archives, see the review of the book Military Nanotechnology. Jürgen Altmann's book Military Nanotechnology: Potential applications and preventive arms control assesses the implications of both near-term nanotechnology and advanced nanotechnology for military systems and for arms control. Join Foresight and help steer nanotech in the directions you personally support most!

Foresight Partners

Looking to understand what nanotechnology means for you? Need to understand how and why nanotechnology can improve your products, process, and may even cut costs? Interested in learning about the latest applications and trends in top-down fabrication and bottom-up assembly techniques? Then this event is for you!

This conference will highlight the current, near-term, and future applications of nanotechnology and how they are transforming the way we manufacture products. Peer networking, information sharing, and technology exchange among the world's nanomanufacturing leaders will be a key feature of the event.

Nanotech News

This battery is a technological marvel, developed in recent years through nanotechnology, with properties that make it highly suitable for vehicle motion. It is much more stable than standard lithium-ion batteries, it has a high level of energy compression, it does not cause excess harm to the environment, and it can be charged, theoretically, more than 3,000 times. That is more than enough for the typical 10-year period of car use. Most important of all, it is also supposed to be far cheaper to produce than regular lithium batteries because its electrodes are made from commonly available and cheap materials rather than exotic minerals. Another advantage is that it can be charged very quickly.

Using the latest methods for nanofabrication, a team led by Rice University physicists has discovered a surprising new electronic property in one of the earliest-known and most-studied magnetic minerals on Earth — lodestone, also known as magnetite…

"It's fascinating that we can still find surprises in a material like magnetite that has been studied for thousands of years," said lead researcher Doug Natelson … "This kind of finding is really a testament to what's possible now that we can fabricate electronic devices to study materials at the nanoscale."

Enough with the nanoparticles already — we want molecular nanosystems. Los Angeles will be the place to be this January when two powerhouse academic institutions come together to push forward toward this goal. Here's the scoop, in full, as received by email…

Contact Foresight

The Foresight Nanotech Institute Weekly News Digest is emailed every week to 15,000 individuals in more than 125 countries. Foresight Nanotech Institute is a member-supported organization. We offer membership levels appropriate to meet the needs and interests of individuals and companies. To find out more about membership, follow this link:http://www.foresight.org/members/index.html

Dr. James Lewis, Research Analyst at Foresight Nanotech Institute, is the editor of the Foresight Nanotech Institute Weekly News Digest. If you would like to submit a news item or contact him with comments about the News Digest, please send an email to editor@foresight.org

Foresight Nanotech Institute is located in Menlo Labs, part of Menlo Business Park in the Palo Alto, California area. If you are seeking space for your nanotechnology or biotechnology company, please contact them and tell them you heard about them through Foresight.
Menlo Labs – Tarlton Propertieshttp://www.tarlton.com